Venetian blind



March 10, 1959 WALKER I 2,876,834

VENETIAN BLIND Filed Dec. 17, 1953 INVENTOR.

2,876,834 Patented Mar. 10, 1959 VENETIAN BLIND Brooks Walker, Piedmont, Calif. Application December 17, 1953, Serial No. 398,704 7 Claims. (Cl. 160168) This invention relates to improvements in Venetian blinds and relates particularly to improvements in the upper portion of Venetian blinds, including the parts known as the head rail, the upper tilt rod, the upper slats, and so on. This application is a continuation-inpart of my application, Serial No. 158,099, filed April 26, 1950.

The invention solves several problems in the Venetian blind art and is generally concerned with the problem of making less expensive Venetian blinds which are also equally good as, or better in performance than, the prior art blinds.

One thing that has stood in the way of reducing the cost of Venetian blinds has been the large number of different stock items that have been required. Head rails and tilt bars have heretofore been bulky parts that had to be carried in stock and out 01f at the desired length for each blind, and numerous items of hardware concerned with the head rail and upper tilt rod also were required, because of the structure of prior art Venetian blinds. Also, such parts as gears, cord locking mechanisms and similar pieces were used in combination with the cords, and all these items had to be carried in stock. Also a great variety of fascia pieces in every color had to be kept on hand to match the blind slats. The present invention has solved the problem of materials cost, partly by reducing greatly the number of different items that are required in each Venetian blind. In some instances the present invention substitutes cheaper, simpler items for more expensive and more complicated ones. For example, numerous punching operations were necessary in manufacturing prior art Venetian blind head rails, involving costly machinery and introducing the possibility of costly errors.

Another problem with Venetian blind installation which added to the expense was that of the labor cost. This resulted partly from the time it took to assemble a large number of different parts and partly from the ditficulties of assembling these parts. The blind usually had to be assembled by feeding the tape sides through narrow slots in the head rails and securing the tape ends to the tilt mechanism, tried out, adjustments made, and finally set into place, and it was not easy to set it in place. The invention has solved this problem by producing blinds from fewer parts, by making these easier to assembly because the slats, tapes, and cords are assembled on the tilt rod and then the rod and assemblies inserted and secured in the open bottom head rail, making it easy to assemble in the factory and to service the blind in the home.

Another problem solved by this invention is that of reducing the shipping cost, which was kept high bythe amount of space the unassembled parts of prior art blinds consumed. This problem has been solved by making the blinds from fewer parts and using parts which take up less room than did the parts previously used.

Another object of this invention is to provide a construction whereby less materialis needed for the head rail and less window glass is covered by the raised blind than with conventional prior art constructions.

The invention, then, includes as some of its objects: the provision of a more economical headrail construction; the provision of a Venetian blind that can be packed more compactly than prior art blinds, for economical shipment; the reduction of the number ofstock parts which are used to produce a satisfactory Venetian blind; the elimination of some stock parts completely, by changes in structure; and the provision of a' greatly simplified and less expensive Venetian blind generally.

The blind of this invention makes it possible to replace the upper tilt bar, which was formerly a heavy piece of material or bulky inserts on a flattened rod, with a simple metal rod. My invention also makes it possible to replace the type of head rail formerly required with a channel bar, which is used in inverted position and comprises nothing but the simplest channel member. This novel head rail can be made relatively narrow and shallow, whereas prior art Venetian blinds had to have bulky head rail mechanisms. When inverted channel members were used, they were not used as the head rail but as a cover to hide the unsightly portions of the head rail, while in my present invention the inverted channel member itself is the head rail and need house only the tilt rod, which is a simple straight rod of metal arranged for rotation in the head rail. From this rod is suspended the entire remainder of the Venetian blind. Another feature of this structure is that the tilt rod itself can be so closely nested within the inverted channel head rail that the tilt cords are thereby retained in their proper position and are prevented from getting on top of each other. This means thatthey will wind evenly and will always be in the right position for controlling the rotation of the tilt rod.

Another feature of the invention is the movable opaque side appendages to the head rail sides that form a light lock for the top edge of the top slat in the slat-closed position.

Other features of my new invention include the use of Venetian blind slats, or pieces identical therewith, for fascias or movable side members of the head rail. In my construction the fascias are made to swing outwardly when the blind is pulled up to its top position, so that the blinds slats can be raised as near to the inverted channel head rail as is physically possible; My fascias closely hug the ladder tapes when the blind is in its lowered position and swing out as the slats are raised. This structure enables the blind to obstruct only a minimum area of the window when the blind is raised. By using scrap ladder tape as hinges for the slat fascias and by attaching the fascias to the tape by staples, the matter of fascia construction is made extraordinarily simple, as compared with the present day practice of providing elaborately-made selections of different types of fascias, all of which meant keeping bulky stocks of fascias.

My invention also contemplates the use of Venetian blind slats or slat material to make a cover for the head rail when the fascia construction is used, thereby making it possible to match exactlyany color of slat, where many colors are readily available; and therefore the head rail cover and the fascias will match the slats perfectly. This further reduces the number of stock pieces which have to be carried and guarantees exact color matching of the important parts.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, presented in accordance with 35 U. S. C. 112.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side quartering view of a Venetian blind showing one preferred form of my invention, some parts 1 of the blind being cut away.

asvasaa Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in section of a portion of the blind, taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view in section taken lengthwise of the blind through the head rail at the location of the lefthand ladder tape of Fig. 1, showing the upper portion of a portion of the blind only.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view in section taken along the line 4-4 in Fig. 1 showing the head rail and tilt mechanism.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view in section taken along the line 55 of Fig. 1 showing the upper portion only of the head rail, the tilt rod and the tilt cord.

Fig. 6 is a view in elevation and partly in section of the tilt rod with a split washer.

Fig. 7 is a view looking at Fig. 6 from the left with the tilt rod shown in section.

In my invention I employ as the head rail an inverted channel 10. This channel member 10 may be much narrower than the Venetian blind slats 5 and may be very shallow. In fact the top and side walls of channel member 10 are, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 5 in substantially equally spaced relation to the axis of the tilt rod 20. It is several times smaller than the head rails that have been required by the prior art constructions, in which the head rail was employed to house a tilt bar as wide as the slats, together with complex tilt mechanisms and other control mechanisms for the blind, and in which expensive and complicated hardware had to be used. While channel members have been used before in Venetian blinds they were not used as a head rail, but merely as a cover to hide the Venetian blind tilt mechanism, and their inverted channel members had to be wider than the slat of a Venetian blind and therefore consumed more room. My channel member is made narrower than the Venetian blind slat, preferably about half as wide as a slat, and this structure is possible because of the employment of a novel tilt control and blind suspension mechanism, next to be described.

My novel tilt control rod 2t? may simply be an iron rod, which may be cut to any desired length when making up the blind. On the rod 20 I mount a Series of control discs or washers 21, 22, preferably by scoring, rolling, or cutting a recess 20a in the tilt rod 20 and then installing split washers 21, 22 in the annular groove 20a, shown at Figs. 6 and 7, with the split portions 22a making the assembly possible. However, the washers 22 could be crimped on the rod 20 or other suitable washer locating means may be used.

Two washers 21, 21 are preferably located near the left end of the rod 20, as viewed in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 4, the space between these two washers 21, 21 is just sufficient to receive a support pin or rivet 11 which is mounted in the head rail 10, which provides a means for supporting the left hand side of the Venetian blind, so that the rod 20 is rotatable thereon. This support for the tilt rod 10 is very simple. The rivet or pin 11 may be placed across the channel 10, extending into openings in the sides of the head rail 1%. When the blind has been fully assembled, its installation is very simple. The rod 20 is then held at a substantial angle to the head rail 10, and the washers 21, 21 at the left side are inserted over the support pin 11, which is already in place. The right hand side of the tilt rod 20 is then raised into its position inside the channel member 10 and then one or more other support pins, such as the pin 11a shown in Fig. 3, may be inserted at any location. The rod 20 is thus held in the channel head rail 10 for free rotation. Preferably, one pin 11a is located near the cord lock 17, so that the tilt rod 20 will be supported near the point of pull on the cord lock as shown by 11b in Fig. 1.

This very simple support for the tilt control rod 20 is a very important feature of the invention, and it should be home in mind that the size of the channel member 10 need be, and preferably is, only large enough to permit free rotation of the washers 21, 22. This reduction in size saves material and also saves space when shipping the blind. It also aids materially in preventing the tilt cord from climbing over itself, as will be shown later.

The tilt cord comprises a unitary rope with two portions 40, 41. The rope is wound round the tilt rod 20 between two and three times. Fewer than two times will not give sufficient friction, while more than three times is un necessary and requires additional rope. It is unnecessary in this invention to secure the cord 40, 41 otherwise than by winding it around, because the friction is suificient anchorage; however, if no creep is desired, pin 42 as shown in Fig. 4 will sulfice. When either cord portion 40, 41 is pulled, the rod 20 will tilt and thereby tilt all of the slats 5. The close nesting of the rod 20 and its washers 21, 22 in the channel 10 prevents the cord 40, 41 from climbing over itself and makes this simple and novel cord mechanism possible, for the spacing of the rod 20 from the side walls and top wall of the channel 10 is greater than the diameter of the cord 40, 41 and less than twice the cord diameter. If the cords 40 and 41 get out of length adjustment they can be adjusted by pullin the shorter one all the way until pin 42 is in line with the cord being pulled. The rod 20 will rotate under the ladder tapes after the slats are fully tilted, and the cords 40 and 41 will again be in adjustment.

The slats 5 are supported in the normal manner in spaced relationship by ladder tapes 30 and 31 (more tapes being used where necessary to hold up wider blinds). The bottom rail and the bottom portion of the blind are not shown, because they form no part of the novelty of this invention, and either a bottom rail piece or a bottom slat with weights may be used.

The ladder tapes 30 and 31 pass over the rod 20, and preferably the front and rear sides are continuous, their upper ends preferably being joined; for example, the front side of each ladder tape 30, '31 may extend over the tilt rod 20 and pass down on the other side, being secured to the rear face of the same ladder tape at 31c by staples, sewing, welding, cementing, pinning or other suitable means (see Figs.'2 and 3). The looped upper end of each ladder tape simply rests on the tilt rod 20, preferably between suitably spaced washers 22, as shown in Fig. 3.

The lift cord passes through route holes in the slats and then over a wire turn guide 25 (Figs. 2 and 3) which is itself suspended from the tilt rod 20, as shown in Fig. 3, by being hooked over it at the left of that washer 22 which is at the left of the ladder tape 31. With this assembly, the ladder tapes 31, 32 and the lift cord 50 are thereby supported without causing any increase in size of the head rail, simply by using the tilt rod 20 to perform all of the functions formerly performed by complex head bars.

When the Venetian blind is being closed, by tilting the slats, the top slat 5 would tend to climb the inside surface of the ladder tapes 31, 32, and the narrow head bar 10 would cause complications. To prevent this, I provide clips 7, which are secured to the ladder tape rungs 31a under the top slat 5. These clips 7, as shown in Figs. '2. and 3, allow the top slat 5 to slide along the cross rung 31a, so that the side members of the ladder tape 31 hug the top slat 5 closely, when the slats S are in their horizontal position, and will allow the cross rungs 31a to assume their full length when the ladder tapes 30, 31 are rotated into their narrow, fully-tilted position in either direction. The provision of this sliding structure gives the necessary relative motion which permits the blind to close fully without causing complications at the top of the blind.

Where it is desired to use fascias to hide from view the mechanisms at the upper end of the Venetian blind, and prevent or reduce light leakage past the top of the top slat and the head rail, two fascia slats 13 and 14 may be employed. These slats 13 and 14 may be identical with the slats 5 of the Venetian blind, except that they are of course not provided with the route holes, which are punched in the slats at the time the dimensions of the blind have been determined. Using this conventional slat stock, the slats 13, 14 are secured to a flexible fabric or plastic strap 15 which may be made from scrap ladder tape. Staples 13a, 14a, which may be clips, snaps, rivets or tape loops may be used to effect this securing of the strap 15 to the slats 13, 14.

To cover the flexible straps 15, that fit over on top of the inverted channel member 10, and to prevent the straps 15 from getting loose, and to retain them in position, I prefer to take another conventional unpunched Venetian blind slat, shape it as a channel member 9, and place it over the straps 15 and the head rail 10.. This channel shaped slat 9 can best be used where the three sides of the head rail 10 are approximately equal to the width of the Venetian blind slats 5, one of which is formed into the cover member 9. For this reason, the channel member 10 is preferably made about one-half the width of the blind slats 5, and its two depending arms are each about one-quarter of the width of a Venetian blind slat.

By using these flexibly suported fascia pieces and the very shallow head rail, the Venetian blind can be pulled up very high relative to the top of the head rail 10, because the fascia slats 13, 14 will move out to a semihorizontal position when the blind is fully raised. The fascia slats 13 and 14 can of course be removed and packed under the bottom slat when the blind is being shipped, and this feature also reduces the transportation and packing costs.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely difiering embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and the description herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

I claim:

1. A Venetian blind including in combination a rod; a tilt cord for rotating said rod; ladder tapes supported by said rod: blind slats supported by said ladder tapes; a lift cord for raising and lowering said slats; and a head rail comprising a narrow inverted rigid channel member about half as wide as said blind slats and having depending sides with lower edges, said rod being rotatably supported in said channel; and a pair of fascia slats, supported as extensions of said channel by a flexible joint along said lower edges outside said ladder tape, so that said pair of fascia slats serve as movable side members of said head rail and swing out to permit the collapse of the blind toward the rigid portion of said head rail.

2. The blind of claim 1 in which said flexible joint compresses fabric strips supported by the rigid channel member and secured to the swinging portions of said head rail.

3. A Venetian blind including in combination a head rail comprising a narrow inverted channel member; a rod rotatably supported in said channel; a tilt cord for tilting said rod; ladder tapes supported by said rod; blind slats supported by said ladder tapes, said channel being less than half as wide as said blind slats; a lift cord for raising said blind slats; and a pair of fascia slats, supported along the lower edges of said head rail outside said ladder tape by strips of tape material overlying said head rail and secured to one longitudinal edge of each said fascia slat, said fascia salts serving as flexible side members of said head rail that swing out to permit the collapse of the blind toward said rigid narrow head rail.

4. A Venetian blind including in combination a head rail comprising a narrow inverted rigid channel member; a rod rotatably supported in said channel; a tilt cord for rotating said rod, ladder tapes supported by said rod; blind slats supported by said ladder tapes, the

upper surface of said channel less than half as wide as said blind slats and the sides of said channel being each less than half the width of said blind slats; a lift cord for raising said blind slats; a pair of fascia slats supported at the opposite pair of lower edges of said head rail outside said ladder tape by a strip of ladder tape material passing over said channel member and secured to the inner faces of said pair of fascia slats, so that said pair of fascia slats serve as flexible side members of said head rail and swing out to permit the collapse of the blind toward said rigid channel member; and a cover slat identical with said fascia slats but bent into a channel shape over the top and at least one side of said channel member and covering said strips of ladder tape.

5. In a Venetian blind, the combination of a rigid channel head rail, tilt mechanism nested in said head rail, ladder tapes supported by said tilt mechanism, blind slats carried by said ladder tapes, and fascia slat similar to said blind slats, and means for flexibly suspending each of them along a longitudinal edge from the opposite longitudinal edges of said channel to form hinged side extensions of said head rail.

6. A Venetian blind including in combination a plurality of slats; an inverted channel member whose overall width is substantially narrower than said slats and having a top wall and opposite side walls; a relatively small diameter cylindrical tilt rod rotatably supported in said channel in closely spaced relation with said top wall and side walls and having its axis in uniformly spaced relation to said top wall and side walls; a plurality of ladder tapes each formed in a continuous loop extending over said tilt rod and having a plurality of cross rungs supporting said slats; and a tilt control cord wound around said tilt rod more than two complete turns and less than three complete turns, the uniform space between said rod and said top and side walls of said head rail being greater than the diameter of said cord but less than twice the diameter of said cord so that the tilt cord cannot climb over itself.

7. A Venetian blind including in combination a metal rod having a plurality of spaced washers secured thereon; ladder tapes looped over said rod; slats supported by said ladder tapes; and a tilt control cord for rotating said rod so as to tilt the slats of said blind; and an inverted channel member whose overall width is sub stantially narrower than said slats with pins bridging horizontally between the side walls of said channel member, said rod resting rotatably on said pins for free rotation in said channel member, with a pair of spaced washers disposed one on each side of one pin to secure the rod against axial movement, the clearance between said Washers and said head rail being close and substantially narrower than the thickness of said cord, said channel member having a top wall and opposite side walls which are equally spaced from the axis of said rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2, l 82, 804 

